News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Hot Springs Voters Speak Out Against Amnesty for Illegal Aliens
Citizens from Hot Springs, Arkansas went to Little Rock and delivered petitions opposing Amnesty Bills, signed by 8,154 Arkansans, to both Arkansas' US Senators offices. There efforts were part of citizen revolt that is spreading. Grassfire.org has reported that already 792,000 faxes and petitions have been sent to leadership opposing amnesty for illegals -- over 100,000 faxes scheduled since the Senate announcement!
Leaders in Washington are getting ready to pass an "amnesty" immigration bill. Senate Leader Harry Reid is pushing to bring the amnesty bill to the floor of the Senate immediately. Meanwhile, the Kennedy-McCain negotiations are finalizing details of their amnesty bill. All agree on passing an amnesty bill as soon as possible. Grassfire has been one of the grassroots groups leading the charge to stop these amnesty bills. Grassfire plans to delivery petitions to the senate next week.
As of this posting, 632,998 people had signed a petition to be delivered to President Bush and Congress with the following major points: #1 -- Secure our borders. As first priority, America must stop the flow of illegal immigration by investing all necessary resources in securing our borders. Also, existing immigration laws must be enforced as an essential component of our Homeland Security.
#2 -- No Amnesty. I oppose any form of amnesty for illegal aliens, including the “temporary worker” proposal or any proposals that grant legal residency status or citizenship to illegal aliens. If you wish to join this effort of expressing your opposition to the current proposed "amnesty" bill, Click to Sign the Petition. See: Proposed Senate Immigration Bill
Contact your senators!or representatives!Tags:amnesty, Arkansas, Grassfire.org, grassroots, Hot Springs, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, petitionsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Jail House Crock: Girl Imprisoned for 'Hate Crime'
Tony Perkins, FRC: If you, like many Americans, are wondering what all the commotion is about over hate crimes legislation, consider this disturbing case in Crystal Lake, Illinois. In a high school prank gone terribly wrong, a 16-year-old girl distributed fliers at school that contained a picture of two male students kissing each other and a headline that read, "God hates [homosexuals]." (An ugly slang term was actually used.) According to reports, she managed to hand out about 40 copies before school officials intervened. Obviously, what the girl did was not only wrong, it was biblically inaccurate. God does not hate homosexuals. This type of behavior is not appropriate and the school officials should have disciplined the student accordingly. However, school officials chose to turn the matter over to local law enforcement. As a result, the teenager was charged with a "hate crime" by county officers and thrown into a juvenile detention center for nearly 20 days. When the 16-year-old appeared in court she was in shackles. The state's attorney said, "This is a classic case of the kind of conduct that the state legislature was directing the [hate crimes] law against. This is what the legislators wanted to stop, this kind of activity." However, the attorney's statements are in direct contradiction with the letter of the law, which says that a person can be charged with a hate crime if they commit "a criminal act with the intent to cause harm." Hate crimes, by definition, are violent acts. This is the progression of "hate crime" laws that has happened in almost every jurisdiction where they have been created. Once in place the laws are either modified or extended to include speech. FRC has just completed a joint project with Coral Ridge Ministries documenting how so-called "hate crime" laws have morphed into "hate speech" laws criminalizing biblically correct speech: Censoring the Church and Silencing Christians Tags:Christians, FRC, hate crimes, homosexual activism, persecution, Tony PerkinsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
A Milwaukee police officer was arrested Wednesday by federal immigration agents on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant who assumed the identity of his dead cousin a decade ago. The officer, who has lived and worked under the name Jose A. Morales since he was a teenager, was arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The officer's real name as Oscar Ayala-Cornejo.
Immigration officials say the real Jose Morales died of cancer and that Ayala-Cornejo stole his identity shortly after the death. According to the criminal complaint the police officer went to Pulaski High School from 1996 until August 25, 1999 under his real name, Oscar Ayala-Cornejo. On August 27, 1999 officials say a person using the name Jose Ayala Morales enrolled at Hamilton High School and graduated in 2001. The criminal complaint says officials compared the yearbook photos and they are the same person but with different names. Morales was hired five years ago as a police aide and became a patrol officer in Dec. 2004. Ayala-Cornejo appeared in federal court Thursday. He is behind bars and is currently suspended from the police department. See:Officer Arrested for Possible Illegal Immigrant Status & Officer arrested; citizenship questioned Tags:fraud, illegal aliens, Milwaukee, police officerTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
4 Muslims Charged in Terrorist Plot on New York City's JFK Airport
FoxNews: Federal authorities announced Saturday they had broken up a suspected Muslim terrorist cell planning a "chilling" attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods.
Arrested were Russell Defreitas, 63, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK air cargo employee. Two other men, Abdul Kadir of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, were in custody in Trinidad. A fourth man, Abdel Nur of Guyana, was still being sought in Trinidad. Authorities said Kadir and Nur were longtime associates of a Trinidadian radical Muslim group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, which launched an unsuccessful rebellion in 1990 that left 24 dead. Kadir, a former member of Parliament in Guyana, was arrested in Trinidad for attempting to secure money for "terrorist operations," according to a Guyanese police commander who spoke on condition of anonymity. Kadir left his position in Parliament last year. Authorities said the men were motivated by hatred toward the U.S., Israel and the West. Defreitas was recorded saying he "wanted to do something to get those bastards" and he boasted that he had been taught to make bombs in Guyana . . . [Read More] See also:Al-Qaeda’s Inroads into the Caribbean Tags:JFK Airport, Muslim, terrorism, terroristTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Financial Times: George W. Bush on Thursday unveiled a striking about-face on global warming, calling on the world's leading economies to join the US in agreeing a global target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions before the end of his term in office. The US president was speaking just ahead of a G8 summit at which climate change was expected to be high on the agenda of European governments. He explained that his apparent conversion – which follows almost seven years of having rejected precisely the road he outlined – was prompted by new scientific findings . . . [Read More] See also:Bush’s green noises greeted with scepticism Tags:G8 Summit, global warming, President, George BushTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Republican revolt over immigration RNC fires all phone solicitors as cash 'evaporates' over Bush
WorldNetDaily: Just two days after President Bush slammed critics of his immigration policy, the Republican National Committee has reportedly fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, as donors are said to be furious over the Bush's stance to give legal status to millions of illegal aliens. "Every donor in 50 states we reached has been angry, especially in the last month and a half, and for 99% of them immigration is the No. 1 issue," a fired phone-bank employee told the Washington Times. Ousted staff members told the paper Anne Hathaway, the committee's chief of staff, summoned the solicitors and told them they were out of work, effective immediately. They claim the reasons they were given were an estimated 40 percent plunge in small-donor contributions, as well as aging phone-bank equipment the RNC said would cost too much to modernize. The committee, however, is denying any drop-off in the influx of cash . . .
"We have not heard anyone in our donor calls who supported the president on immigration," said a fired phone solicitor, who described himself as a Republican activist. "We write these comments up from each call, and give them to a supervisor who passes them on to the finance director or the national chairman," he said. "But when I talked with the White House, the people there told me they got nothing but positive comments on the president's immigration stand."
. . . opponents of the controversial immigration deal forged by the White House and a bipartisan group of senators in private meetings "don't want to do what's right for America," according to President Bush in a speech Tuesday . . . Bush acknowledged many Americans "are skeptical about immigration reform, primarily because they don't think the government can fix the problems . . . Give us a chance to fix this problem. Don't try to kill this bill before it gets moving." . . . A Rasmussen poll last week showed only 26% of American voters favor the Senate plan. The public is most passionate about enforcement, the survey indicated. About 72 % of voters said it's "very important" for "the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration." The figure jumped to 89% among Republicans, while 65% of Democrats and 63% of unaffiliated voters believed enforcement is "very important."[Read Full Article] See also:RNC fires solicitors Tags:illegal aliens, immigration reform, President George Bush, Republican National Committee, RNCTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Too Bad - President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder
by Peggy Noonan: What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting down a historical marker -- "At this point the break became final." That's not what's happening. What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future . . . [Read More] Tags:conservative, Peggy Noonan, President George Bush, Republican, conservative coalitionTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Sen. Mitch McConnell, (R-KY) is the U.S. Senate minority leader: At the beginning of this Congress, Republicans and Democrats pledged to work together across party lines to benefit hard-working Americans. Unfortunately, the Democrats’ 2008 budget -- which penalizes Americans with an extra $736 billion in taxes, ignores the crisis of entitlement programs, and plunges our nation deeper into debt -- does not live up to that promise. Make no mistake, after only a few months on the job and waves of election rhetoric promising tax relief for the middle-class and the return to fiscal sense in Washington, this Democratic-controlled Congress has reverted to its tax-and-spend roots . . . [Read More] Editorial comment: McConnell also writes about the Republican legislation being offered to “restrain spending, balance the budget, and make it harder to raise taxes.” Which the Democrats will assuredly reject - Of course! Tags:Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Budget, Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, Republican, US SenateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Progress In Iraq - more provinces take on security responsibility Iraqi Kurdistan Assumes Responsibility for Security
From Jon Henke, Senate GOP Communications, Washington D.C.: While the American public news Media remained pretty much silent, three Iraqi provinces that make up Iraqi Kurdistan: Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk, took responsibility for their own security operations yesterday. According to DOD these three provinces join four other provinces, Maysan, Muthanna, Dhi Qar, and Najaf, now completely responsible for providing their own security. This is very positive. A self-sufficient Iraqi security force is a prerequisite for our gradual withdrawal.
In addition, another potential breakthrough taking shape in Iraq? Several indications point to US progress at co-opting Iraq's Sunni minority, which has been the backbone of the insurgency in that country. Tired of the random violence wrought by al Qaeda terrorists, some Sunni political leaders and communities appear to be allying themselves with the US in an effort to rid themselves of al Qaeda. If those trends are confirmed, they could amount to a key watershed for the US mission. One can hope. The threat of US withdrawal should certainly have a clarifying effect on the Sunnis. Tags:Iraq Kurdistan, Iraq WarTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Hillary Clinton's Economic Plan: It takes a Socialist Villag
by Cal Thomas: Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has unveiled her economic vision. Should she be given the power to implement it, we can say goodbye to the prosperity and opportunity we have enjoyed since the Reagan years. In a speech . . ., Clinton said it's time to replace President Bush's "ownership society," which she called an "on your own" society, with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity . . . Doesn’t such a society already exist elsewhere? It’s called socialism, where government has sought to make all things economically equal and the only equality is that all are equally poor . . . Clinton has merely updated the old and discredited (except among socialist dictators) Karl Marx saying: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” . . . [Read More] Tags:Cal Thomas, Democrat, Economics, Hillary Clinton, presidential candidate, socialismTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by George Will: . . . Today conservatives tend to favor freedom, and consequently are inclined to be somewhat sanguine about inequalities of outcomes. Liberals are more concerned with equality, understood, they insist, primarily as equality of opportunity, not of outcome. Liberals tend, however, to infer unequal opportunities from the fact of unequal outcomes. Hence liberalism's goal of achieving greater equality of condition leads to a larger scope for interventionist government to circumscribe the market's role in allocating wealth and opportunity. Liberalism increasingly seeks to deliver equality in the form of equal dependence of more and more people for more and more things on government. . . . This reasoning is congruent with conservatism's argument that excessively benevolent government is not a benefactor, and that capitalism does not merely make people better off, it makes them better. Liberalism once argued that large corporate entities of industrial capitalism degraded individuals by breeding dependence, passivity and servility. Conservatism challenges liberalism's blindness about the comparable dangers from the biggest social entity, government. . . . [Read More] Tags:conservatism, George WillTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Democrats promised reform. It's not happening [Video] Critics Say $39 Million a Waste
CNN: "What does congressman John Murtha have to say in defense of the $39 million earmark buried in House Intelligence bill to fund the National Drug Intelligence Center here in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (in Murtha's district)? Surprisingly, nothing at all."
Tags:CNN, Congressional Pork, earmarks, John Murtha, National Drug Intelligence CenterTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
26% of young U.S. Muslims say violence OK What is your Opinion?
AFA Online Polling: According to a new poll by the New York Post, one of four young Muslims in the U.S. believe suicide bombings against innocent civilians are OK. The nationwide survey, one of the most exhaustive ever conducted of American Muslim attitudes, found that more than 60% are very concerned Islamic extremism will grow in America. There are an estimated 2.35 million Muslims in the U.S. Thirteen percent said suicide bombings and other violence against civilians can be justified “in order to defend Islam from its enemies.” Among those under the age of 30, that 13% doubled to 26%.
What is your opinion on the following questions: • Are the mainstream media doing enough to report on the threat of radical Islam in the U.S.?
• Do you think the mainstream media have a more favorable view of Islam than Christianity?
• Do you think the mainstream media are intentionally refusing to report on the rise of radical Islam?
• Do you think radical Muslims will practice suicide bombings in the U.S. in the near future?
• Do you think our government should do more to appease the demands of radical Muslims? To express your opinion on these questions,Click Here to Take the latest AFA Poll See also:This Tiny Lunatic Fringe Adds Up to a Big Threat Tags:American Family Association, Islam, Muslim, online polls, pollsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by PL Booth,The Blue Eye View: We are a nation that was largely settled by European immigrants (though every country in the world is represented here). Now, the vast majority of newcomers are Hispanics from some country South of us in the Americas. In the past, our society required, both legally and collectively, all immigrants learn our English, manners, customs, ideals, and laws to assimilate into our society, a society based upon respect for the rule of law, private ownership of properties, representative government, and Judeo-Christian morality values.
The eminent Harvard political scientist Samuel P. Huntington predicted that the greatest threat to Western civilization would come from a clash of civilizations, noting with particular concern the "bloody borders" of the Muslim world. He was correct though he reckoned not with our own, homegrown socialism and its fellow travelers. Unfortunately, our Southern infiltrators do not possess nor were they ever exposed to the collective values we hold dear. To the contrary, today’s immigrants are replacing American culture with Latin American culture. . . . [Read More]Tags:amnesty, culture, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, PL BoothTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Jason Easley: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) unveiled his universal health care plan today . . . Obama would create a national health insurance plan that would allow the uninsured to buy coverage, with premiums based on income level. Obama’s plan is not mandatory for all, but he would create a health insurance oversight body called The National Health Insurance Exchange. The Exchange would set the rules and standards for private insurance plans. A big change is that the insurance companies would have to issue a policy for any applicant regardless of their health. . . .
This plan already has an unrealistic house of cards feel to it, but the kill shot is the way he plans to pay for it. Obama would do two things, first he would repeal the Bush tax cut to the wealthiest Americans, and, “To help pay for this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don’t make a meaningful contribution today to the health coverage of their employees to do so by supporting this new plan,” Obama said. Small businesses are a political sacred cow. No Republicans and very few Democrats will vote for a plan that causes small businesses to pay more taxes. On top of this, the campaign estimates that their plan will cost a very expensive $50-65 billion a year. . . .[Read More]
Posting today - Arkansas Times blog: U.S. Justice Department has notified Arkansas's congressional delegation that Interim Eastern District U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin is resigning effective Friday, June 1. Jane Duke will become acting U.S. attorney. . . . Still no word from the White House on selection of a nominee to put through the Senate confirmation process from a slate sent up by Rep. John Boozman. . . . Griffin was placed in the job as part of an effort to install picks of Karl Rove in U.S. attorney jobs throughout the U.S. Griffin once worked for Rove. The politics of the move has become more apparent in a succession of congressional hearings. . . [Read More] Tags:Arkansas, Tim Griffin, US Attorneys
by John Lyon, Arkansas News Bureau: The Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA) should do more to take advantage of former Gov. Mike Huckabee's legacy, Republican political observers say. During his 10 years in office, Huckabee appointed hundreds of people, most of them Republicans, to state boards and commissions. Some say those appointees constitute a group of potential political candidates that has been overlooked by the state GOP. "These are individuals that we have failed to tap, to engage them to continue on," said Dennis Milligan of Bryant, RPA chairman. Calling the Huckabee appointees a "farm team" for the Republican Party, Milligan said the GOP should make use of that resource by providing "training, guidance and advice" to any Republican whose appetite for public service has been whetted by a state appointment. "It's going to be a lasting legacy for a number of years. ... It doesn't mean they're going to end up being candidates, but they are people we can approach," he said.
Regarding appointees to boards and commissions as a farm team for the party is a "fresh and innovative way of thinking," said Republican political consultant Bill Vickery of Little Rock." As opposed to the more traditional way of thinking which says 'state rep (representative), state senator, mayor, county judge' as the farm team, this is a little different twist on that, I think," he said. Vickery said he agrees with Milligan that Huckabee's appointees are "one of the untapped resources that the party can draw from" but added that quality should take precedence over quantity." I always think it's important not just to have candidates for candidates' sake, but to have people who are really committed to trying to make a difference," he said . . . [Read More] Tags:Arkansas, Arkansas Republican Party, Bill Vickery, Dennis Milligan, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tony Perkins, FRC: In what may be another veiled effort to prod the Congress into restoring the "Fairness Doctrine" for broadcast media, a coalition of leftwing groups issued a report yesterday claiming that religious conservatives get disproportionate time on the airwaves. The coalition includes Media Matters and Faith in Public Life, two leftwing groups, and has leaders like former Congressman Bob Edgar, now head of the National Council of Churches, and the Rev. Brian McLaren, who encourages Christians to engage in a vague process he has dubbed the "deep shift." The deep shift these groups really want to see is less discussion of issues like the sanctity of human life, bioethics, marriage and religious liberty and more about such topics as poverty and global warming. For many of these groups, government controls are needed to restore "balance" to the airwaves. In reality, conservatives are the balance, as most of the cable and network news hosts represent a leftwing world view that they breathe as naturally as you and I exhale air. The Media Matters/FPL report names me as a too-frequent media guest. We're all for seeing more topics on television--but dead set against government defined and mandated "balance." As always, the key to being in the media is to have something solid to say. Tags:fairness doctrine, Family Research Council, FRC, Mad Hatters, Tony PerkinsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Alabama Lists Pro-Life Advocates Among Terrorist Groups
by Gudrun Schultz (LifeSite.net): The Alabama Department of Homeland Security included pro-life organizations, as well as homosexual activist groups, on a website listing of potential terrorist groups, or groups that might spawn terrorists. The site has since been removed to modify the content . . . after the agency received a string of calls and e-mails from concerned individuals who complained the list was unfairly targeting certain groups on the basis of their beliefs.
Pro-life organizations were included in a section of the list describing “single-issue” terrorists, who were identifed as “people who feel they are trying to create a better world.” “Single-issue extremists often focus on issues that are important to all of us. However, they have no problem crossing the line between legal protest and…illegal acts, to include even murder, to succeed in their goals,” the site read . . . [Read More] Tags:Alabama, Homeland Security, homosexual activism, pro-lifeTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Fred Thompson Expected to Announce White House Candidacy in July
FoxNews: It seems all but certain that former senator and "Law & Order" TV star Fred Thompson will formally announce his campaign for president sometime after July 4. Sources tell FOX News that the former Tennessee senator will wait until after Independence Day to announce in hopes of finding a more interested public, and the announcement could come as soon as July 5. Although plans have not yet been solidified. And The Politico reported Wednesday that Thompson told a group of financial backers on Tuesday that he is going to run and had already raised millions of dollars. Thompson is encouraging more support as he readies his campaign in the crowded field of Republican candidates. . . . Thompson also is expected in early June to form a "testing the waters" committee, which is one type of precursor organization to an official campaign. While foregoing an exploratory committee, the filing still would allow Thompson to raise money in June in order to launch his candidacy in July. . . [Read More] See Also:Fred Thompson will run, advisers sayTags:2008, conservative, Fred Thompson, GOP, Politics, presidential candidate, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By Jon Gambrell: Arkansas 1st District U.S. Rep. Marion Berry is in Cuba as part of an economic forum on agriculture, marking the second time in seven years the congressman has visited the Communist nation.B erry (D-AR), will spend several days in Havana and travel back to the U.S. later in the week . . .
Berry's trip comes as Cuban leaders try to expand agricultural imports to their island nation. Washington maintains a 45-year-old trade embargo on the island, but U.S. food and agricultural products can be sold directly to Cuba under a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000. Since Havana first took advantage of the law in 2001, it has spent more than $2.2 billion on American farm products, including hefty transportation and financing costs.Guyadeen said she expected Berry, who has a farming business in Arkansas, to discuss how trade works between the U.S. and Cuba, as well as discuss individual policies. . . .
In 2005, estimates show Arkansas only exported $2.7 million worth of products to Cuba, down from $33.8 million the year before, according to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission website. The site's 2004 figures included $21.6 million in state meat exports and about $10 million in grain exports, but did not explain the drop from 2004 to 2005. [Read More] Tags:Arkansas, Cuba, Marion Berry, Rice, US House
Torture vs. Freedom / Contemplaing the Gift of Freedom
by Debbie Pelley, NW Arkansas: Columnist Nancy Salvato wrote an article by this title, "Contemplating the Gift of Freedom." Salvato used as the basis of her article the recently discovered drawings, which depicted methods Al-Qaeda uses to torture captives(e.g., blowtorch to the skin, eye removal, drilling hands, severing limbs, etc.). The pictures were a good reminder to me of why we are continuing our fight in Iraq and why we must continue to fight for the right of our military leaders to use the techniques, which in no way compare to any of these, to protect our soldiers from becoming captives.
But Salvato's article also reminded me of my own contemplation in the last few years. As I have tasted the bitterness of the fruit of intimidation, coercion, corruption, and the looming loss of freedom in our own country, I have often meditated on just how painful it would have been to live an entire lifetime, like millions have, in Cuba under the reign of Castro, in Russia under Stalin type dictatorship, under China's Mao, or Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
For me, I have at least escaped that type of torture for almost a lifetime! And I am deeply grateful, but still not nearly as grateful yet as I should be, for those who sacrificed and are still sacrificing for us so that we could have these blessings. For that I become more grateful every day; and as corrupt as our country is becoming, we still are far ahead of any country I know of in blessings and freedom. But I do greatly fear for the future generations!
I think Emily Dickinson's poem speaks to my own feelings - as I taste the looming loss of freedom, I count the nectar of freedom even sweeter. And Dickinson expresses the feelings of hundreds of thousands of those who died in battle and didn't get to experience on this earth the victory for which they died. Success Is Counted Sweetest* by Emily Dickinson
Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple Host Who took the Flag today Can tell the definition So clear of Victory
As he defeated-dying On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Burst agonized and clear! *(1864) published later (1878) as "Success" Tags:Arkansas, Debbie Pelley, Emily Dickerson, Freedom, Success, TortureTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Charlie Reese: The so-called immigration reform bill is amnesty. It provides favors and rewards for people who have broken our laws. If it is passed, it will — like the previous amnesty — send a message around the world: Cross the borders illegally and you will eventually be rewarded. Rather than invite more immigrants in, Congress should declare a moratorium on all immigration, both legal and illegal. We can't absorb the number of immigrants who are currently pouring into the country year after year . . . .
It isn't just angelic poor people who cross our borders illegally — it's drug dealers, criminal gangs and, no doubt, terrorists. Thanks to our stupid policy, we now have a Russian mafia and some very vicious Latino gangs. Why should the American people be taxed to pay for the high costs of crime and the welfare costs that are a direct result of immigration? True immigration reform must be done in stages. Stage One is to seal the border and enact harsh punishment for those employers who hire illegal immigrants. . . .
If you don't think uncontrolled immigration is a problem, ask a Sioux or a Comanche or an Apache. Our European ancestors took this country away from Native Americans, and they did it with mass migration. We can be overwhelmed, just like they were. We are 300 million Americans in a world of 6 billion. Let us not make the same mistake Native Americans made of welcoming newcomers, lest, like the Native Americans, we end up as remnants on reservations and in ghettoes. Better send a strong message to your congressmen and senators before they sell the country right out from under you. [Read More] Contact your senators!Contact your representatives!
by Janet Folger: Just who are the haters? . . . Homosexuals more than hated Jerry Falwell, whom they attacked, maligned, ridiculed and threatened. He didn't make it widely known, but homosexual activists even attempted to kill him. And through it all, he met hate with love . . .
Haven't you heard? Words of disagreement with the homosexual agenda are now illegal. Just ask more than 100 kids who were suspended for wearing T-shirts that expressed their biblical views on the topic. Shirts with Bible verses and such sayings as "Don't touch God's rainbow" threw San Juan High School students in California out of school.
S. 1105, the so-called "hate crimes" bill, is the most dangerous bill in America. It will revoke what used to be called the freedom of speech. I don't agree with all the speech I hear. You may not agree with mine. But if we don't stop this bill together, we will all lose the right to disagree, to quote the Bible and to speak the truth. Speak up before you are locked up. The alternative is 16-year-old girls imprisoned and ministers' graves desecrated. It's Catholic mothers murdered, and the thought police in schools. What do you want the future to look like? [Read More]
"No more clever loopholes for the few at the expense of the many. No more lobbyists buying tax breaks for their clients from Congress. No more tax cheats and untaxed underground economy.” By Mike Huckabee, Former Gov. Arkansas & GOP Presidential Candidate 2008: I’d like you to join me at the best “Going Out of Business” sale I can imagine – one held by the Internal Revenue Service. I want to completely eliminate all federal income and payroll taxes. And do I mean all – personal federal, corporate federal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment. Instead we will have the FairTax, a simple tax based on wealth.
The FairTax will replace the Internal Revenue Code with a consumption tax, like the taxes on retail sales forty-five states and the District of Columbia have now. All of us will get a monthly rebate to reimburse us for taxes on purchases up to the poverty line, so that we’re not taxed on necessities. We’ll be taxed on what we decide to buy, not what we happen to earn. We won’t be taxed on what we choose to save or the interest those savings earn. The tax will apply only to new goods, so we can reduce our taxes further by buying a used car or computer.
Our current progressive tax system penalizes us for our success. As we climb the ladder, the government lurks on each rung, hungry for a bigger bite of our earnings. The FairTax is also progressive, but it doesn’t punish the American dream of success, or the old-fashioned virtues of hard work and thrift, it rewards them. The FairTax is revenue neutral, so the Government won’t have more money to waste. The FairTax will lower the lifetime tax burden on all of us: single or married; working or retired; rich, poor or middle class. As our disposable incomes rise, so will consumption and our gross domestic product.
Under the FairTax, we’ll all be treated the same: no more tax avoidance by those who can afford the most creative – and expensive – lawyers and accountants. No more clever loopholes for the few at the expense of the many. No more lobbyists buying tax breaks for their clients from Congress. No more tax cheats and untaxed underground economy.
The FairTax will instantly make American products 12 to 25% more competitive because the cost of those goods will no longer be inflated by corporate taxes, costs of tax compliance, and Social Security matching payments. When we buy products now, those taxes are built into the cost, so all of us pay corporate taxes indirectly on top of the personal taxes we pay directly. Compliance costs are just make-work with no real added value, yet they consume as much as 3% of our gross domestic product annually. These costs are an especially heavy burden on small businesses, which generate most of our jobs.
Other governments give their goods an advantage on the world market by rebating value added taxes on exports, an advantage estimated at 18% compared to American goods. No matter how hard Americans work, no matter how innovative and creative we are, no matter how superior our products are, we suffer from a built-in competitive disadvantage simply because of our tax system. Our tax system deprives us of about $1 billion in exports annually. When you export over-priced goods, you inevitably end up exporting jobs and industries. We are the square peg trying to fit into the round hole of international trade. The rest of the world isn’t going to change, it’s time that we do. The FairTax is the path to greater prosperity and job security for us and our children. Tags:FairTax, FairTax Plan, GOP, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
• Illegal aliens who were given amnesty in 1986 participated in: the 1993 WTC attack (6 dead, 1000 injured); the shooting outside CIA headquarters (2 dead, 3 wounded); the plot to blow up NYC landmarks and tunnels.
• All the terrorists who committed the 9/11 attacks would have been eligible for the current amnesty proposals.
• Three of the “Ft. Dix Six” would have been eligible for the proposed amnesty.
To prevent future crimes by foreign terrorists and violent felons we state our goals:
• Illegal aliens must be denied “legalization.”
• There cannot be a real war on terrorism as long as the U.S. does not enforce its immigration laws against all would-be illegal entrants and illegals already in the country. [Read More]
Tags:9-11, amnesty, Families, illegal aliens, terrorism, terroristTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
General Peter Pace Urges Reflection on Memorial Day 2007
On this Memorial Day, as we remember our fallen comrades in arms, let us reflect upon the countless battles with now familiar names such as Yorktown, Gettysburg, Iwo Jima, Chosin, Hue City, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Fallujah. Each one reminds us that liberty has a cost, and that freedom is not free.Tags:2007, General Peter Pace, Joint Chief of Staff, Marine Corps, Memorial DayTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
America honors those who gave their lives -- and all of their tomorrows -- so that we might live in peace. We acknowledge their sacrifice and pledge our own service to their memory -- emulating their courage and dedication. Their legacy sets an enduring example for our 2.4 million active, Guard, and Reserve military members serving today.
Memorial Day represents a time to remember and honor the untold sacrifices of those who have gone before us. It is also a time to remember that those who gave their lives in the defense of this county have left behind families. The freedoms that America enjoys today have come at a precious cost, paid not only by those who died, but by those who lived.
Prayer for Peace - Memorial Day 2007 A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
On Memorial Day, Americans pause with solemn gratitude and deep respect for all our fallen service men and women who have given their lives for our country and our freedom.
Through the generations, the courageous and selfless patriots of our Armed Forces have secured our liberty and borne its great and precious cost. When it has mattered most, patriots from every corner of our Nation have taken up arms to uphold the ideals that make our country a beacon of hope and freedom for the entire world. By answering the call of duty with valor and unrelenting determination, they have set a standard of courage and idealism that inspires us all.
All Americans honor the memory of the lives that have been lost in defense of our freedom. Our Nation mourns them, and their example of strength and perseverance gives us resolve. We are also thankful to those who have stood by our service men and women in times of war and times of peace.
Today, the members of our Armed Forces follow in a proud tradition handed down to them by the heroes that served before them. They are protecting our Nation, advancing the blessings of freedom, and laying the foundation for a more peaceful tomorrow through service that exemplifies the good and decent character of our Nation. America is grateful to all those who have worn the uniform of the Armed Forces of the United States, and we will never forget their sacrifices for our liberty.
On Memorial Day, we honor all those who have fallen by remembering their noble sacrifice for freedom. We also pray for our troops, their families, and for the peace we all seek.
In respect for their devotion to America, the Congress, by a joint resolution approved on May 11, 1950, as amended (64 Stat. 158), has requested the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period on that day when the people of the United States might unite in prayer. The Congress, by Public Law 106-579, has also designated the minute beginning at 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as a time for all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 28, 2007, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite in prayer. I also ask all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day. I encourage the media to participate in these observances. I also request the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half staff until noon on this Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States, and in all areas under its jurisdiction and control. I also request the people of the United States to display the flag at half staff from their homes for the customary forenoon period.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.
GEORGE W. BUSHTags:2007, Memorial Day, President George Bush, Presidential ProclamationTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by John Gizzi: If there were any lingering worries that it is too late for Fred Thompson to jump into the Republican presidential race, they appeared to be assuaged last night (05/24) by Republican activists in a state widely considered to be a hopeless cause for the conservative Tennessean. As the guest speaker at the Connecticut GOP’s Prescott Bush dinner here at the Stamford Sheraton Hotel, television actor and former Tennessee Sen. Thompson wowed the standing-room-only crowd with his calls for U.S. success in Iraq (“We’re not about surrender or retreat.”) . . . “He drew shouts of ‘Run, Fred, Run!” and a bigger ovation than the governor [liberal Republican Jodi Rell, who won a full term last fall in a landslide],” . . . “that -- and the fact that this dinner drew 200 more paying guests than the one in ’06 -- should tell you something.” . . . [Read More] See also:Fred Thompson Raps 'Open Border' Immigration
A different job' for Fred Thompson? - "All right, let's get the announcement out of the way," he told the crowd in Stamford. "'Law and Order' will return for an 18th season."A woman in the back yelled, "But we need you in a different job!" Thompson smiled and said, "Can you speak a little louder?" Tags:Connecticut, Fred Thompson, presidential candidate, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Are 10 Republican presidential contenders enough? One of them, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, said Sunday there is room for more. Huckabee commented when asked in a broadcast interview how he felt about the possibility that Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator, might enter the 2008 race. " . . . I think any of us who are running have to recognize that there's going to be room even for more than the 10 who are already on the stage," Huckabee said. [Read More]Tags:Arkansas Federation of Republican Women, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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Citizens from Hot Springs, Arkansas went to Little Rock and delivered petitions opposing Amnesty Bills, signed by 8,154 Arkansans, to both Arkansas' US Senators offices. There efforts were part of citizen revolt that is spreading. Grassfire.org has reported that already 792,000 faxes and petitions have been sent to leadership opposing amnesty for illegals -- over 100,000 faxes scheduled since the Senate announcement! 
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